The prince’s legal team claim the sale contract is ‘void’ because the Conways agreed to pay the go-between a ‘secret commission’ to secure the deal.

But the Conways deny any inappropriate conduct. Mr Collings said the go-between initially contacted them without Prince Eze’s knowledge, and later ‘raised the issue of the Conways paying his £75,000 finder’s fee’.

‘Otherwise he threatened to scupper the deal,’ added Mr Conway, also 62, who now lives in Great Shelford, Cambs.

From the witness box, Prince Eze said he had wanted ‘a genuine investment in the UK’.